I first heard of Holt’s Ledge, a secluded ice climbing spot near the Dartmouth Skiway, when a distant friend had a boulder roll on top of his leg while scrambling around the cliffs. The massive rock took out a softball size chunk of flesh from his thigh and he had to be evacuated from the area by helicopter. It was a freak accident, but showed the potential hazards of the wet, tall cliffs.

By my senior year of college, I still hadn't explored the area (although I had rock climbed extensively at the nearby Pickledish crag). But I heard rumors of the quality ice climbing and decided to go exploring. With the help of my highschool climbing partner, Tim Rogers, we stumbled upon the biggest flow, Jaws, a voluptuous grade 3 climb with a spicy finish. We hadn't expected to find much, so we were quite pleasantly surprised when we found this thick flow. We had fun on it and the climbs on either side, Vagabond (a wondering 3+,4- climb depending on conditions), the Scottish Gully (a fun grade 3 route that climbs through tight vegetation on either side), and The Curtain (an appropriately named thin, steep, short curtain - grade 4). For a couple months, that was all we climbed. However, after meeting Nick Goldsmith, a quirky but talented climber who spends more time at Holtz Ledge than anyone, he showed us some much more challenging climbs off to the left, such as the Yellow Icicle and the White Stripe (4 and 4+ respectively).

Overall, Holtz ledge offers a perfect variety of climbs for a diversity of climbers. While Jaws and The Curtain are easily topropable, climbs like Yellow Icicle and White Stripe require solid ice climbing skills to lead. There are even a couple of moderate climbs (Scottish Gully, Jaws) that allow the aspiring ice climber to get his /her first lead. Of course, wherever you are ice climbing, you need to be wary of falling ice and rock. The cliffs of holt's ledge are particularly wet, steep, and loose, so you need to take extra precautions, by analyzing the rock and ice above you and finding sheltered areas from which to belay.

The Approach:

To access the Holt's Ledge Ice climbs, park at the Dartmouth Skiway in Lyme NH. Hike up the access road past the Holt's Ledge double chair chairlift on the right. As soon as you pass the chairlift turn right and head up the ski trail staying to the very left (don't get in the way of the descending skiers). Hike about a half mile on this trail and then take a left onto the subtle trail that enters the woods. This trail descends behind a grey house with barking dogs and leads you to the bottom right side of Holt's Ledge.

-Edventure